World News - Chinese party official in dock over rent-a-mob raid on villagers

A Chinese official who ordered a murderous attack on village protesters was put on trial yesterday in the latest effort by Beijing to address the grievances of the country's vast rural population.He Feng, former Communist party secretary of Dingzhou city, in Hebei province, is one of 27 defendants in the dock over last summer's armed assault by hired thugs on peasants demonstrating against the seizure of land for a power station. Six people were killed in the gun and knife fight outside Shengyou village, which was secretly filmed. Video of the clashes was leaked to the media.Despite a history of cover-ups, the central government was forced to fire Mr He and several other local officials who were accused of collaborating with the power company to hire a 300-strong gang who tried to disperse the protesters.... http://www.guardian.co.uk

Hamas extended big local election gains from the fractured ruling Fatah party on Friday, buoying the Islamic militant group ahead of a Palestinian parliamentary election next month. Israel said that if Hamas achieved political dominance it would spell an end to all hopes for peace talks because the group is sworn to destroying the Jewish state. Hamas appeared to profit in the West Bank municipal poll from disarray in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, which is struggling to heal a rift between an old guard and younger members. Hamas has won growing support from Palestinians who see it as less tainted by corruption than Fatah and appreciate the faction's charity network as well as its fight against Israel with suicide bombings and rocket attacks. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1415274

President George W Bush insists he has not compromised civil liberties, after it was alleged he authorised people in the US to be bugged without a warrant. A storm of protest erupted after the New York Times said the National Security Agency (NSA) was allowed to eavesdrop on hundreds of people. Senators from both sides called for an explanation and investigation. Mr Bush refused to confirm or deny the claims, but said he always upheld the law and protected civil liberties. The president said he would not discuss ongoing intelligence operations. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4536838.stm

The Senate on Fri refused to reauthorize major portions of the USA Patriot Act after critics complained they infringed too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders. In a crucial vote early Fri the bill's Senate supporters were not able to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47. Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Republicans congressional leaders had lobbied fiercely to make most of the expiring Patriot Act provisions permanent. They also supported new safeguards and expiration dates to the act's 2 most controversial parts: authorization for roving wiretaps, which allow investigators to monitor multiple devices to keep a target from evading detection by switching phones or computers; and secret warrants for books, records and other items from businesses, hospitals and organizations such as libraries...http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/5553503/detail.html

Kenya has cancelled the just-ended police recruitment drive, after allegations of widespread corruption. Anti-Corruption Commission head Aaron Ringera said up to 80% of the candidates had either paid bribes or used their connections to get jobs. He said candidates paid up to 100,000 shillings ($1,400) to be recruited into the police force. Kenya's president was elected in 2002 on a pledge to fight corruption. But western diplomats say President Mwai Kibaki has failed to curb bribery. As well as cancelling the recruitment of the 3,000 new officers, Police Commissioner Maj Gen Hussein Ali also suspended about 60 senior officers involved in the drive. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4534150.stm

South Korean cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk has stood by his apparently breakthrough research, despite claims some of the results were fabricated. Dr Hwang said his work would be vindicated within 10 days, after stem cells from his study were reassessed. But he has asked the journal Science to retract a key research paper, published in June, due to the controversy. The cloning pioneer was speaking on Friday, a day after a colleague claimed Dr Hwang had admitted faking some data. Even before the latest claim, Dr Hwang was already under fire after admitting ethical lapses in his research. The controversy is causing shockwaves in South Korea, where the cloning pioneer is widely considered a national hero. After an emergency meeting on Friday in response to the fabrication claims, the government said it would wait to take further action until after an investigation by Seoul National University, where Dr Hwang works. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4533786.stm